Book Review : Destined to Play by Indigo Bloome

Title : Destined to Play

Author : Indigo Bloome

Publication date : 16th August 2012

Publisher : Harper

Source : Sent by publisher, thank you!

It′s simple. No sight. No questions. 48 hours .

Dr. Alexandra Blake is about to give a series of prestigious lectures, but the butterflies in her stomach are for a far more exciting reason...
 

After the lecture she is meeting up with Jeremy Quinn, esteemed doctor and dangerous ex-lover - the only person with whom she has ever let her guard down completely. After a few glasses of champagne in his luxurious penthouse suite, Jeremy presents her with an intriguing offer: stay with him for the next forty-eight hours and accept two extraordinary conditions, the first of which leaves her utterly at his mercy, and he will give her an experience more sensual and extreme than any game they have ever played before.

Since reading Fifty Shades, I am now hooked on erotic fiction, not to say it's an addiction, but it's more of a liking. So, I'm more than happy to review erotic fiction on the sidelines, but my love for chick lit still stands strong. When Harper offered review copies for Destined to Play - a treat for those who loved Fifty Shades of Grey (ME!), and after reading the book blurb, I was intrigued! So, I jumped at the chance!

The book blurb gave me some idea on how the story goes, what with the 48 hours and an "intriguing offer", I thought it would be another dom-sub novel, but boy was I wrong! I really didn't know how I felt about the book and I had to take time and think about it before writing a review on it. The entire concept of the book was.. let's say complex. It wasn't lust and sex and pleasure as I've expected, it was entirely different. Throughout the book, the only thought circulating my mind was: "Is this science fiction or erotic fiction?". But I pushed the thought away and carried on, hoping for a twist. But no.

There were parts where I enjoyed the steamy, sexy scenes between Alex and Jeremy, and the snippets of their relationship back in uni which were really nice to read about as they were sweet and naughty at the same time. The "naughty scenes" were really raw and mind-blowing as most of the time Alex was blind, thanks to some weird concoction which sort of impaired her vision, in order to "feel" much better. Trust me, I don't hate it, but it's not really your average erotic fiction with the hot, steamy scenes with multiple orgasms, oh no. Destined to Play was more challenging and there were some parts I had to think twice after reading before carrying on. And the thing is, Alex being a psychologist, there were terms in the book which required Google to solve, mostly clinical or psychological.

Alex, a 37 year old mother, sets off to Sydney to lecture on something to do with psychology, sorry. I really couldn't follow, and meets up with ex-lover and best friend, Jeremy. Sorry, but wouldn't it be weird and terribly awkward to meet your ex-lover, in his penthouse suite, alone? Maybe it was her failing marriage or her raging libido, Alex and Jeremy did meet,thus the "intriguing offer". Alex was easy to understand, but Jeremy was the tough cookie. God, he is definitely not your Mr Grey, trust me. I didn't feel the same feelings for Jeremy as I did for Christian. The guy was really inappropriate, without offending the author, but if he weren't the big-shot doctor, I would've thought of him as a pervert.

The first half of the book was really good as it covered most of Alex and Jeremy's past and the setting was much more intimate and well written. But sadly the other half was, how do I put this without sounding rude.. er.. freaky? Sorry but it was really uncomfortable to read about sex experiments and getting touched by strangers whilst being blind AND being observed. Sadly, that part really spoiled the story, as it was really difficult to read.

Reading Destined to Play wasn't a walk on the park for me as it required a lot of thinking and analysing, it played with my mind and I couldn't understand certain parts, but thankfully the intimate scenes between Alex and Jeremy balanced it well. Maybe it's not my say, but I really tried to adjust to the idea of the book, sadly I couldn't.

I would like to apologise to the author for any harsh comments on the book and thank the publisher for sending me a copy.

Rating : 3/5